Steam freebies Part 7: Towards the Pantheon
A diamond in the rough among the mediocre and bad free RPGs on Steam.
In the far reaches of Steam, lost in some corner of this massive platform, there are piles of low-quality games, many free. I won’t get into Steam quality control, as that’s another story for another time, but surrounded by so many low-effort releases, there are, on occasion, some rare gems buried under the piles. I know games take at least some amount of effort to make. It might seem unfair or ridiculous to criticize something free, but even if there’s no financial cost, they still take time to play and use up space on your hard drive, so rather than downloading hundreds of freebies, it’s important to be discerning when looking at how to spend your downtime.
As far as free retro-style JRPGs, it’s the same. Granted, personal tastes vary, but for me, I skip right past the idlers and rogue-likes and want something more engaging with steady progression. The issue is, and I’ve tried this on various devices, Steam’s filters aren’t the greatest. I’ve tried all sorts of combos, including RPG, JRPG, 2D, single-player, Free, and so on, and sometimes the best releases simply never show up regardless of the parameters set. That doesn’t make sense, because there are solid games getting, I’ll be blunt, shafted by these less-than-stellar results based on what should be clearly set filters.
So how I found Towards the Pantheon is truly a mystery because, when testing searches, it never shows up, even when scrolling page after page. It has 73 reviews with a “Very Positive” rating. There are games with a fraction of the reviews, sometimes Positive or lower, showing up far more frequently. What’s going on? Why is this game hard to discover? Nothing against RPG Maker; it gives people new to game development a chance to learn, but most of the games using that engine shouldn’t be on Steam. They are poor, and yet, more visible compared to something like Towards the Pantheon, which looks like some attempts were made to stand out in the world of free Steam RPGs. The same happens with another developer I’ll be looking at in the next few weeks: good releases, almost impossible to find regardless of the filters set.
I’ve played RPGs for almost three decades; I’ve beaten hundreds, so I’d like to think I’m coming from a knowledgeable position when I say Towards the Pantheon is a solid game. It can’t compete with the best of the indie games like Sea of Stars, Chained Echoes, or Crosscode, don’t get me wrong, but for the niche it lives in, this is a fantastic game to try. I’ll admit I almost dropped it in the opening hour when you are just with your first character, Freyja; it’s surprisingly tough, and enemies hit hard, but once you get your second character, and especially the third, it settles into a satisfying loop.
I’ll continue to do what little I can to promote these underappreciated creations in any media I come across, be it music, film, TV, or gaming, and today, I want to do my part to help gamers connect with a solidly made JRPG.
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I posted my full review of Towards the Pantheon on the gaming website Cubed3, where I will happily write about this game or a similar one alongside my Hollow Knight or Final Fantasy reviews without a second thought. Keep your eyes peeled for Steam freebies Part 8 in less than 10 days; it’s one of my favorites!
Steam Freebies Part 1: Grimm’s Hollow
Steam Freebies Part 2: Weird and Unfortunate Things Are Happening
Steam Freebies Part 3: Cat Girl
Steam Freebies Part 4: Pascal’s Requiem
Steam Freebies Part 5: Friendly Fire
Steam Freebies Part 6: The Ghost Cage
